Wéi vill Wäert huet de Pistons 'Jerami Grant?

Perhaps surprisingly, the Detroit Pistons did not trade Jerami Grant at this month’s trade deadline.

Widely considered as one of the more likely names on the market, Grant stayed put with a Pistons team that has got potential Rookie of the Year Cade Cunningham, but is still not going anywhere. The surprise stems not from the fact that Grant is not good or on a bad contract, but quite the opposite – he is good, on a fair market value contract, and he might not be on one for much longer.

As things stand, Grant will enter this summer with one year left on his contract, one which will pay him $20,955,000. And while he will be extension-eligible this summer as well, there may not be much incentive for him to take it, considering the potential lure of unrestricted free agency the following year hitting right as he turns 29.

Of course, the Pistons still can trade him, starting from the day after the final game of their season. And considering the threat of unrestricted free agency as he enters the prime of his career, perhaps they will. But if they pass on the opportunity once again, Detroit will then either have to pay big money to keep Grant themselves, or lose him for nothing.

There surely exists little reason for the third option, so a decision on Grant comes down to trade or keep. And in order to determine which it should be, Grant – as will be the case with every current Pistons player and potential future acquisition – must be evaluated through the lens of Cunningham.

Grant Came To Detroit To Be The Number One Option

After a few years of steady ascension from bit-part role player to coveted fourth guy with an almost-ideal athletic/skillset profile combination for the modern day game, Grant came to Detroit not only for the biggest payday of his life, but to use their discombobulated rebuild as an opportunity to prove his chops as a scorer. And, by and large, he has done so.

In his first season with the team, Grant averaged 22.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 blocks per game. Whereas previously he had never attempted more than 10.3 field goals per game in a season, that number shot up to 17.3 in Detroit, and perhaps more important to his future than the quantity of shots was the evolution of his shot profile.

On an undermanned Pistons squad, Grant got the opportunity to attempt to be an isolation scorer at the NBA level. Per Synergy Sports, Grant used 14.6% of his possessions as a pick-and-roll ball-handler that year, a high number for a player largely operating as a power forward, alongside 10.3% of his possessions coming in isolations.

To use himself as a point of comparison, in the 2019-20 season with the Denver Nuggets, those numbers were only 3.3% and 4% respectively. In Denver, just as he had been with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers previously, Grant was tasked with being a finisher not a creator. He came to Detroit to show he could both.

Certainly, Grant has shown an expanded game, albeit with some frustrating tendencies. Many of those possessions that he now starts with the ball in his hands involve a dribble or two before a jumper, often from the free throw line-extended area, and with his size and athleticism, they are hard to block.

Grant seems comfortable doing this, and Detroit has let him explore this area of his game. And although he can take too long with his isolations sometimes, and can make poor predetermined tunnel-vision decisions on when to score and when to pass, (combined with occasionally sending passes out into the car park and/or continuing to try and score through heavy traffic), the fact that he is a viable shot-creator from the frontcourt positions is eminently valuable in a modern NBA that is looking for shot creation from every area of the court.

However, irrespective of the role Grant sought for himself in coming to Detroit or what he has done so far while here, the role of ‘The Guy’ is now Cade Cunningham’s hereafter. For this to work optimally, something will have to give.

Fit Him In Or Cash In Now Before The Returns Diminish?

Perhaps Grant needs to go back to being the finisher rather than the creator.

Grant as an individual is at his best when he goes quickly. When he hesitates, sizes up and overthinks, he does not have the moves to reopen all the spaces that the defence closes up – conversely, when he makes a quick and decisive decision immediately on the catch, and gets a head of steam going on the drive or rises up quickly in a sliver of space, he is an effective multi-option threat.

Multiple-dribble Grant can be a tough watch, and a detriment to an already-sticky offence. This is especially true given that his handle is not the tightest. However, fast-acting Grant can be a premier star role player. He already essentially was one before adding this expanded offensive game to his CV; were he to fully harness the nuance in its implementation, his value would rise rather than fall. If he plays more like Serge Ibaka, perhaps he will be similarly revered.

From the point of view of the Pistons, Grant as a secondary/tertiary frontcourt creator in the corners, wings and dunk spots for a driving Cunningham could be a virtue in the medium term. The elbow jumpers and wing dribbles that have become a feature of Grant’s game over the last season and a half do mean that he tends to operate in the same areas of the court as Cade, compounding a chronic team spacing issue. Yet if Grant can work ronderëm Cade, get deeper on his drives, facilitate as the roller, embrace being the spot-up and downhill type, strive to be the elite finisher rather than the average creator, and become a more committed rebounder, there is a future for him in Detroit, even when considering his contract situation and the fact that he is on a very different timeline to all the young players.

On the flip side, Grant’s trade value is surely high right now, and could easily go down. As the contract gets closer to expiring, the team control reduces, and the price shrinks; indeed, one injury prior to that could implode it altogether. The Pistons need a whole lot of everything and do not have much in the way of trade assets – Grant represents their best one currently, and that alone could precipitate a move.

Were Grant to stay, be it via extension or re-signing, he will help this Pistons team as long as he is healthy. If he can stay healthy and adapt his game slightly, even better. Alternatively, if he is traded, there could potentially be a nice haul in it for a team sorely in need of a nice haul. Ultimately, it might be Grant himself who chooses the path.